Reducing Your Exposure to Mercury
Avoid fish high in mercury. Fish that are known to be high in mercury are long-lived and large predators. Examples include king mackerel, tilefish, swordfish, orange roughy, and marlin. Limit consumption of tuna, especially steaks and canned ‘white’ albacore. Lower-mercury choices include wild salmon, sardines, anchovies, Atlantic herring, Dungeness crab, Pacific cod, Alaskan black cod, farmed striped bass, tilapia, farmed catfish, clams, mussels, and Pacific oysters. There are many guides available to help evaluate the mercury levels and overall sustainability of your fish choices. Visit the Blue Ocean Institute or the Monterey Bay Aquarium for more information. You can find additional guidance on fish choices at the following websites: Environmental Defense’s Oceans Alive: Best and Worst Seafood, and Environmental Working Group: Mercury in Seafood (includes Tuna Calculator).
Exercise caution when consuming sport-caught fish. If you eat sport-caught fish, check the Oregon Department of Human Service’s fish advisories for specific guidance on Oregon water bodies or coastal waters. Almost 20% of Oregon’s waterways are under fish advisories due to contamination from persistent bioaccumulative pollutants, including mercury. These advisories include fish in the Cottage Grove Reservoir near Eugene, fish in the Coast Fork and entire main stem of the Willamette River and fish throughout eastern Oregon. Click here for Oregon's current fish and shellfish consumption advisories.
Avoid purchasing and using consumer products that contain mercury. The most common household items that may contain mercury include thermostats and thermometers. Buy digital or mechanical thermostats and digital or alcohol-based thermometers, all of which are free of mercury. Encourage local businesses to carry mercury-free items whenever possible and to offer recycling for mercury-containing products in their stores.
Make sure your medicines are free of mercury. Some home remedies, including some Hispanic folk remedies (“grieta”), Ayurvedic herbal preparations, as well as drugs and cosmetics, can contain mercury. Look at ingredient lists, talk to your doctor, and avoid folk remedies and other medicines that contain mercury.
Dispose of mercury-containing products responsibly. Keep mercury out of landfills and incinerators. Recycle batteries and old wall-mounted thermostats. Exchange mercury-containing thermometers. Recycle compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) appropriately. While compact fluorescent light bulbs do contain a small amount of mercury, they reduce overall mercury emissions because they are far more efficient than incandescent bulbs and reduce the amount of coal burned to power our homes.
Choose green energy. A primary source of mercury in the environment is pollution from coal-fired power plants. Although Oregon only has one coal power plant, one-third of our electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants located here and in nearby states. By choosing your power utility’s green energy option, you can help to reduce mercury and other air pollutants across the West.
Ask your elected officials to take action on mercury reduction policies. Lobby your elected officials to strengthen regulations regarding the sale and recycling of consumer and industrial products containing mercury.
